What Now?
by Cassidy-Leah-Radford
Summary: When Ripp Grunt is uprooted from his regular life and plopped into Strangetown things take a downward spiral. Then he meets Johnny and Ophelia and suddenly he starts to take a shine to the odd town. Based on the 'Strangetown, Here We Come' story line but going into more detail of the JRO relationship. Does include polygamous relationships and slash so be warned.


Ripp and Johnny had been friends for a long time.

When Buzz Grunt had first shipped his family to Strangetown nobody was particularly happy about it. As the oldest Tank had accepted his father's reasons and went along with them well enough. Some things just happened that way. Buck wasn't too upset about it. He was young and naive, hoping for something good to come out of it. Their mother had hated it. She thought it was the worst possible place to send her family. This ended with many a sleepless night and fights between her and her husband.

Then there was Ripp. Ripp had been furious. This move was uprooting everything. He turned on his father and elder brother. He did everything humanly possible to rebel against the regime that existed in the military style household. Then Lila disappeared. Tank told him that she would come back and Ripp sat there in that stupid chair everyday hoping that whoever was at the door was his mother. It never was.

He blamed his father. Wasn't it him who had destroyed their family by doing all of this? His efforts to hurt his father renewed themselves in full force. The first thing he did was refuse to cut his hair. He never did his work anymore and was failing several classes. Then one day he met Johnny Smith.

Johnny Smith was the strangest person Ripp had met in his entire life. His skin was as green as the aliens his father was sent here to keep an eye on. But his eyes weren't the void like black his father had taught him to fear. Johnny's eyes were very much human. They were bright green. Ripp begrudgingly admitted that they suited him. They spoke in class once and only for a brief moment but next thing he knew he (and just about everyone else in the grade) were invited over for a garden party at the Smith's house. Buzz had vehemently refused. He never trusted those 'aliens things'. Ripp sneaked out anyway. He'd even remembered to bring a pair of swimming trunks.

The Smith's house was perfect. They even had the white picket fence and short green grass despite the fact that they lived in the dessert. Johnny had welcomed him in personally. There were a lot more people present than Ripp had expected there to be, most drinking punch or hanging around the pool. One girl even winked at him as she passed by. Ripp sat alone most of the time, occasionally talking to a pretty girl. He was sitting on a bench on the far side of the Smith's back garden. He was watching the other people. It astounded him how comfortable people were around Johnny. He could understand Jill of course, as she didn't represent any of her half alien parentage but Johnny was obviously the 'elephant in the room'. Yet everyone was flocking to him. He was popular definitely. He looked toward the house itself for a moment.

The mother of the household was busy handing out things to people. Ripp realised that she was the only actual human in the Smith family despite her daughter's appearance. Then the man of the house came out onto the deck. Ripp felt a shiver run down his spine at the sight of those eyes. They unnerved him to say the least. His whole life the meaning of the word alien had been drilled into his head. His father hated them with a passion and Tank was following after this very well. Aliens were supposed to be evil. They supposedly had complete disregard for human life. Johnny popped up in front of him unexpectedly and as a result Ripp flailed backwards and the bench toppled over.

Ripp expected laughter and pointing. He expected Johnny to make fun of him. But he didn't. Instead he put out a hand for Ripp which the boy gladly excepted. Johnny quickly righted the bench.

"That was quite a tumble. You okay?" Ripp wasn't hurt but he wasn't sure what to say.

"Yeah, I'm fine I guess. You just, surprised me as all." Johnny was a heck of a lot taller than he was, even at the age of 16. It felt weird to have to look up all the time.

"Great. Come on, join us in the pool. Don't be a loner. 'Sides, lots of the girls have been asking about you anyway." Johnny spoke to him as if they had know each other forever.

"Okay, whatever." Ripp was already in his swim trunks so all he had to do was remove his shirt. There were a number of very pretty girls tanning around the pool and swimming. Johnny guided him to a group of people he loosely recognised from school.

"Hey guys, I found Ripp." One girl in particular caught his eye. She was a pretty girl with red hair. Freckles spread across the bridge of her nose. She looked at him with amusement from above a pair of sunglasses. Ripp smirked at her and she bit her lip.

"Yeah, I'm Ripp." The guy to his right introduced himself as Thomas. He pointed out each person in turn. The redhead's name was Michelle.

"You guys don't look like you've set foot near the pool. When are you gonna get off of you lazy asses and do something?" Michelle shrugged.

"I'll swim if you get the new guy to swim too." Johnny glanced at Ripp sideways and Ripp's split-second decision was that he wanted to see that girl in a bikini.

"Sure, I'll swim." The guys got up and pushed him on the shoulder, rushing past to bomb the pool. Ripp pulled off his own shirt and dive-bombed the pool. His long hair was dripping when he resurfaced. He had to push it out of his eyes and when he looked up the first thing he saw was legs. Long gorgeously tanned legs. He certainly wasn't the only one staring. Many guys had stopped to stare. Ripp's eyes continued upwards. _Shit, what a rack_. Michelle's bikini was tiny to say the least. It didn't' leave much to the imagination. Michelle dived into the pool gracefully and swam towards Ripp once she had resurfaced.

"So new guy, ever kissed a girl before?" Ripp raised an eyebrow.

"How about you test my experience?" Michelle wrapped her arms around his neck.

"I wouldn't mind doing that."

Ripp had to admit that the party was a huge success. He had Michelle's number and a fair amount of respect for Johnny Smith. That respect would ultimately become friendship and eventually something more.

* * *

When Buzz found out about Ripp attending the party there was hell to pay.

"You cannot be near that family Ripp! They are good for nothing aliens, a bunch of freaks!" Ripp stood stock still.

"No they aren't dad they-"

"They've brainwashed you is what they've done. That Johnny boy shouldn't even be allowed to attend school!"

"What's wrong with you dad? Have you ever met the Smith family? They're the nicest people I've ever met! Johnny is pretty much my only friend in this hellhole!" Ripp stormed out of the room and slammed the door behind him. He had to get out of that house. The first place he thought of going was Johnny's house. He'd be welcomed sure but he kind of needed solitude. The next place he thought of was the abandoned playground near the graveyard. Nobody ever went there anymore. It was perfect. His dad would never think of looking for him there.

The playground was empty. Tumbleweed blew across the scorched ground as the wind kicked up dust. He sat on one of the rusted old swings. The thing barely moved anymore. Ripp's head was swimming with his father's warnings and Tank's confident voice talking about how wrong Johnny's family was. And Johnny himself flashed in and out of Ripp's train of thought. Johnny with his loud laugh and weird nose. Once you saw past the skin he was exactly like any other sim, if not better. He just didn't get what his father had against the Smiths. While he was lost in thought he didn't notice someone appearing. The swing next to his squeaked loudly. The sound startled Ripp.

"What the fu-" He saw that it was Johnny sitting next to him. "What are you doing here?" Johnny looked seriously depressed.

"I usually come here to think. I spotted you and called out but you didn't react. You must have been thinking really hard." A hint of a smiled settled on Johnny's face. Ripp harrumphed.

"I was until you showed up."

"Well I can leave you here even though it's getting pretty flippin' dark and we're near a graveyard."

"Fuck you. Let's both leave." Ripp hated losing an argument.

"Whatever you say prissy pants." Johnny received a punch to the arm for that and he laughed. They left the playground though. Johnny was right when he said that it was dark.

"Shit, my father's gonna murder me." Ripp ran a hand through his shaggy mane of hair. He glanced at Johnny's. Despite the odd haircut he had to admit that the guy looked better than himself.

"He can't murder you, imagine what that would do to his career." Ripp hated it when Johnny teased like that.

"Oh shut that green face of yours up Smith. What about your parents? Aren't you late for dinner?" Johnny froze for a second.

"Dammit you're right." Johnny sprinted towards his house which was just on the opposite side of the road.

"Shit that guy is fast." Johnny was in the house withing a matter of seconds. Ripp glanced up and down the road. Now he had to walk all the way to his house alone. As he walked home he noticed an odd car driving past. For a terrifying moment Ripp had thought it was a hearse, coming to collect his dead body but it pulled into the Spectre lot. Ripp didn't waste anymore time and rushed home.

He didn't want to know what was in the back of that truck.


End file.
